In The Name of Allaah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy.

The Muslim Woman In a Modern World- By Shaikh Abu Khadeejah [may Allaah preserve him]

The Muslim Woman In A Modern World – By Abu Khadeejah ‘Abdul-Wāhid

“Do you believe that the importance in your country of Islam complicates your ability to do something, to take a stronger stand against violence against women”. This is the ridiculous question Judy Woodruff asked Prime Minister Imran Khan [may Allaah protect him and all our Muslim rulers] Aameen. Click on this link https://youtu.be/ZcIoQwf8qJg at 16mins 56secs onwards.

Indeed, this is one of the most ridiculous questions one will ever come across throughout his or her entire life! It is a question that clearly manifested the fact that the questioner is either duped by those who decided what she was to ask or simply because she is one whose tongue is at the tip of her heart, as Imaam Ibn Hibbaan [may Allaah have mercy upon him] stated, “One of the greatest signs of the silliness of a silly person is his tongue, because his heart is on the tip of his tongue and thus he utters whatever comes to his heart”. [Rawdatul Uqalaa. page 121] Indeed, this is exactly what Judy’s question necessitates, because had she studied Islam and refrained from repugnant blind following, she would not have asked such an absurd question.

Few Reminders to Judy and Her Ilk: The seal of the Prophets Muhammad [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] said, “Women are the twin halves (or counterparts of) men”. (1) Meaning, they are twin halves of men as created beings, as if they are the other halves from men because Hawaa [may peace be upon her] was created from Adam [peace be upon him]. (2) Imaam Muhammad Bin Saaleh Al-Uthaymeen [may Allaah have mercy upon him] said, “Women are the twin halves of men, meaning they are the other half from them, because a woman is the daughter of her father and a part from him, just as the Prophet [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] said, ‘Faatimah (may Allaah be pleased with her) is from me’. The narration has another meaning – that ‘Twin halves (or counterpart) of men’ means that they are same as men in what Allaah has obligated on men – regarding those affairs that have not been specified for men or women. (3)

Al-Miqdam Ibn Ma’dee[may Allaah be pleased with him] said, “Allaah’s Messenger [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] said, ‘Verily, Allaah commands you to be good to women. Verily, Allaah commands you to be good to women, because they are your mothers, sisters your aunts'”. (4)

Abu Huraira [may Allaah be pleased with him] reported: I invited my mother, who was a polytheist, to Islam. I invited her one day and she said to me something about Allaah’s Messenger [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] which I hated. I came to Allaah’s Messenger weeping and said: Allaah’s Messenger, I invited my mother to Islam but she did not accept (my invitation). I invited her today but she said to me something which I did not like. (Kindly) supplicate Allaah that He may set the mother of Abu Huraira right. Thereupon Allaah’s Messenger said: O Allaah, set the mother of Abu Huraira on the right path. I came out quite pleased with the supplication of Allaah’s Prophet and when I came near the door it was closed from within. My mother [may Allaah be pleased with her] heard the noise of my footsteps and she said: Abu Huraira, just wait, and I heard the noise of falling of water. She took a bath and put on the shirt and quickly covered her head with a headdress and opened the door and then said: Abu Huraira, I bear witness to the fact that there is none worthy of worship (in truth) but Allaah and Muhammad is His bondsman and His Messenger. He (Abu Huraira) said: I went back to Allaah’s Messenger and (this time) I was shedding the tears of joy. I said: Allaah’s Messenger, be happy, for Allaah has responded to your supplication and He has set on the right path the mother of Abu Huraira. He (the Prophet) praised Allaah, and extolled Him and uttered good words. I said: Allaah’s Messenger, supplicate to Allaah so that He may instil love of mine and that of my mother too in the believing servants and let our hearts be filled with their love, whereupon Allaah’s Messenger said: O Allaah, let there be love of these servants of yours, i. e. Abu Huraira and his mother, in the hearts of the believing servants and let their hearts be filled with the love of the believing servants. (Abu Huraira said: This prayer) was so well granted by Allaah that no believer was ever born who heard of me and who saw me but did not love me. [Sahih Muslim 2491] http://www.sahihmuslim.com/sps/smm/sahihmuslim.cfm?scn=dspchaptersfull&BookID=31&ChapterID=1033

Abu Umamah [may Allah be pleased with him] said, “A young man came to the Prophet [peace and blessings of Allah be upon him] and said, ‘O Allaah’s Messenger! Allow me to commit illegal sexual intercourse’. The people turned to him to rebuke him and told him keep quiet. So the Prophet moved closer to him and he sat down. The Prophet said, ‘Would you like that for your mother?’ He said, ‘By Allaah! No. ay Allah make me your ransom’. He said, ‘The people do not like it for their mothers either’. Then he said, ‘Would you like it for your daughter?’ He said, ‘By Allaah! No. May Allah make me your ransom’. He said, ‘The people do not like it for their daughters either’. He said, ‘Would you like it for your sister?’ He said, ‘By Allaah! No. May Allah make me your ransom’. He said, ‘The people do not like it for their sisters either’. He said, ‘Would you like it for your paternal aunt?’ He said, ‘By Allaah! No. May Allah make me your ransom.” He said: “The people do not like it for their paternal aunts either’. He said, ‘Would you like it for your maternal aunt?’ He said, By Allah! No. May Allah make me your ransom’. He said, ‘The people do not like it for their maternal aunts either’. Then he placed his hand on him and said, ‘O Allah! Forgive his sins and cleanse his heart, and protect his chastity’. And after that the young man never thought of any such thing again”. (5)

We’ll suffice with the above texts and the reader should listen to (and read) the beautiful clarifications by Shaikh Abu Khadeejah and Shaikh Abu Idrees [may Allaah preserve them] Aameen:

The Muslim Woman In A Modern World – By Abu Khadeejah ‘Abdul-Wāhid

Women in Islam by Abu Khadeejah

Good Treatment of The Wife by Abu Idrees

Means to a Happy Life – A Righteous Wife – Khutbah by Abu Idrees

The Good Treatment of the Mother and Father in Light of the Quran and Sunnah

As for Judy’s question regarding rape cases and Prime Minister Imran Khan’s response, it has already been dealt with in this link: https://salaficentre.com/2021/07/02/brief-rebuttal-of-a-foolish-egyptian-mutabarrijah-heba-yosry-at-alarabiya-news-who-deceitfully-sought-to-blame-prime-minister-imran-khan/brief-rebuttal-of-a-foolish-egyptian-mutabarrijah_heba-yosry-at-alarabiya-news_who-deceitfully-sought-to-blame-prime-minister-imran-khan/

Finally, as for the injustices committed by men against women, then indeed that has nothing to do with Islam; rather they are cultural habits and a Muslim is not allowed to adhere to any cultural norms that oppose Islam.

Imaam Ash-Shaatibee [may Allaah have mercy upon him] stated in Al-Muwaafaqaat that customs are many different types- some are good and others are corrupt. The good customs are those that neither oppose the Sharee’ah texts nor lead to losing an affair deem to be beneficial by the Sharee’ah, nor lead to an affair which the Sharee’ah deems to be corrupt. As for the corrupt customs, they are those that oppose the evidences in the Sharee’ah or some of the principles of the Sharee’ah, such as some of the customary dealings in usury and those deeds deemed to be evil by the Sharee’ah which the people engage in during occasions of happiness (or rejoicing etc) (6)

Imaam Ibnul Qayyim [may Allaah have mercy upon him] said:

Hardship is only encountered by the one who abandons the Ma’loofaat and Awaa’id [i.e. those habitual things, deeds, practices, customs etc] for other than the sake of Allaah. As for the one who abandons them truthfully and sincerely from the bottom of his heart- for the sake of Allaah alone- then indeed he does not encounter any difficulty due to abandoning them except in the beginning, in order that he is tested as to whether he is truthful or untruthful in abandoning them? If he exercises a little bit of patience, its [i.e. that abandonment] will alternate into pleasure. Ibn Seereen said that he heard Shurayh swearing by Allaah that “A servant does not abandon anything for the sake of Allaah and finds a loss in that.” And their statement [i.e. the people of knowledge] that ‘whoever abandons something for the Sake of Allaah, Allaah will replace it with what is better.” This is true. This compensation is of different types and the best of that which a person is compensated with is: the desire and yearning to get close to Allaah, seeking after Allaah’s pleasure, love of Allaah, and the heart granted-by way of it- tranquility, strength, enthusiasm, happiness and being pleased with its Lord [The Most High]. (7)

Imaam Abdul Azeez Bin Baaz [may Allaah have mercy upon him] said:

It is obligated on every Muslim that he does not depend on custom; rather he presents it to the pure Islamic legislation [to be judged], so whatever the Islamic legislation affirms is permissible and whatever it does not affirm is impermissible. The customs of the people are not proof to determine the lawfulness of anything. All the customs of the people in their countries or tribes must be presented to the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] for judgement, so whatever Allaah and His Messenger made permissible is permissible, and whatever they forbid, then it is obligatory to abandon it even if it is the custom of the people. (8)

Imaam Muhammad Bin Saaleh Al-Uthaymeen [may Allaah have mercy upon him] said:

The customs cannot make something that is not legislated (in the divine revelation) as something legislated, because of Allaah’s statement: [وَلَيۡسَ ٱلۡبِرُّ بِأَن تَأۡتُواْ ٱلۡبُيُوتَ مِن ظُهُورِهَا – It is not Al-Birr (piety, righteousness, etc.) that you enter the houses from the back] [Surah Al-Baqarah. Aayah 189], despite the fact that it was something they took as their custom and considered it to be an act of righteousness. Whoever takes something as a custom and believes that it is an act of righteousness, then it should be presented to Allaah’s divine legislation. (9)

Imaam Muhammad Bin Saaleh Al-Uthaymeen [may Allaah have mercy upon him] also said:

Extremism in related to customs is stringent adherence to old customs and not diverting to what is better than them. As for if the customs are equal in benefit [i.e. the ones judged to be permissible by the divine legislation], then a person remaining upon what he is upon would be better than going along with the new (or emerging) customs. (10)

May Alaah guide Judy to Islam and protect us from the tongues of those who speak about Islam based on desires and ignorance Aameen.

[Ref 1: Saheeh Abu Dawood. No 236. Publisher Maktabah Al-Ma’aarif 1st edition]
[Ref 2: Mirqaatul Mafaateeh Sharh Miishkaat Al-Masaabeeh 2/428. slightly paraphrased]
[Ref 3: https://binothaimeen.net/content/11305 ]
[Ref 4: Silsilah Al-Hadeeth as-Saheehah 2871]
[Ref 5: Silsilah Al-Hadeeth As-Saheehah 370]

[Ref 6: Al-Muwaafaqaat 2/283]

[Ref 7: Al-Fawaa’id page 166]

[Ref 8: Majmoo Al-Fataawas 6/510]

[Ref: 90: Tafseer Surah Al-Baqarah 2/299]

[Ref 10: Majmoo Al-Fataawaa 7/7]